Grantmaking

We take an equity-centered approach to grantmaking, supporting mission-driven nonprofits in the Bay Area with unrestricted multi-year grants and Beyond the Dollars support. We focus on funding organizations with diverse teams representative of the communities they serve. Our collaborative practice has a ripple effect: Partners’ personal giving approaches are shaped by the best practices they learn at SV2. In addition, as Partners are exposed to local nonprofits doing great work, many choose to personally support organizations they learn about through SV2.

How does it work?

SV2 hosts one Grant Round in the Fall and one in the Spring, each focused on a different topic area – recent sectors have included Education Equity, Economic Inclusion, Environmental Justice, Mental Health & Wellbeing, and Tech for Good. In these collaborative, experiential grantmaking processes, SV2 Partners learn about an issue area, get to know Bay Area nonprofits working in that sector, and participate in a diligence approach that incorporates best practices in trust-based philanthropy. Following this learning and diligence, participants select two nonprofits to receive three-year, unrestricted general operating support grants of between $75,000 – $100,000. The new Grantees also select one or two SV2 Partners to be their Partner Champion liaisons, providing Beyond the Dollars support throughout the three year grant period. 

Grant Rounds are typically led by two Partner Leaders and a staff member, who plan the content of each meeting, teach participants how to perform nonprofit due diligence, and lead the group in discussion and decision-making. Participants are encouraged to participate as fully as possible, but we welcome people to drop in at any time in the four month process.

Grant Round Process:

• Open Call and Research: SV2 puts out an open call for nonprofit nominations, typically receiving 40-60 names of nonprofits working in the Bay Area on that issue area. A research team of Partners conducts desk top research and narrows the list to five finalist organizations.
  
• Meeting #1: Expert speakers share their knowledge and perspectives about the issue area with Grant Round participants.
• Meeting #2: The five finalist organizations introduce themselves and their work to Grant Round participants.
• Financial Diligence and Coffee Chats: Participants volunteer to do financial analysis using SV2’s structured worksheet. Small teams of participants also engage in Zoom calls with each finalist, using a structured set of questions. The notes from these “Coffee Chats” take the place of a written grant proposal.
• Meeting #3: Participants discuss their learnings from the Financial Worksheets and the Coffee Chats.
• Meeting #4: After another round of discussion, participants select two of the finalists to become three year Grantees. The other three finalists each receive an honorarium for their participation in our process.

Organizations seeking grant funding from SV2 should:

• Be a 501(c)(3) or fiscally sponsored

• Deliver programs and have an executive presence in the Bay Area—specifically San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Francisco, and/or Alameda counties. If the organization has national reach, it must have a local office with an Executive Director and a local Board of Directors

• Not have previously received an SV2 three-year grant

• Have annual revenue of approximately $500K–$4M

• Be in a growth stage with a proven model and early evidence of impact

• Be in a period of strengthening internal organizational capacity

• Typically, be a younger organization (if older, we’re looking for a clear renewal or new growth phase)

• Address root causes by creating conditions that reduce the prevalence of an issue